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Minute by minute, day to day, Norman Steisel, New York City's First Deputy Mayor, is at the helm in City Hall. He can often be spotted standing behind his secretaries' desks in front of his office at the far end of the main corridor. Phone planted firmly on his ear, Mr. Steisel barks out commands to commissioners and agency heads while his eyes survey the physical center of his domain, the long first-floor hallway through which most of the city government's movers and shakers pass each day.

It is not possible to reach Mayor David N. Dinkins's corner office without turning right at Mr. Steisel's hectic headquarters. These days, to reach Mr. Dinkins himself it is usually necessary to go first to Mr. Steisel.

Although he has been First Deputy Mayor since Mr. Dinkins entered office three years ago, only in the last six months has Mr. Steisel emerged as the pre-eminent figure in the Mayor's inner circle of advisers at City Hall. Chief Coordinator

And late last month, he demonstrated that standing on a very public stage. While the Mayor was in Japan on a trade mission, Mr. Steisel commanded the city's emergency effort after the World Trade Center bombing, coordinating the police commanders, fire officers, environmental officials and others.

Until Mr. Dinkins returned the day after the bombing, it was Mr. Steisel who presided as the city's chief spokesman at news briefings. Normally someone who functions almost exclusively in private and behind the scenes, Mr. Steisel found himself appearing on national television as well, including "Nightline" on ABC.

Mr. Steisel's rise in the administration is the result of the Mayor's growing trust in him, many senior mayoral advisers say, and of the departure of another Deputy Mayor, Bill Lynch, a longtime confidant of Mr. Dinkins's who left the administration last summer to work for the state Democratic Committee and is now the Mayor's campaign manager. Some say City Hall has missed Mr. Lynch's deft political touch, but others say Mr. Steisel's emergence has helped to streamline decision-making.

Mr. Steisel, who began in government 24 years ago as a budget analyst, has made his mark as a manager, someone whose intellect and passions are engaged by matters like closing budget deficits and increasing workers' productivity. He first came to public attention a decade ago, when as Sanitation Commissioner under Mayor Edward I. Koch, he won an arbitrator's order to reduce three-member garbage crews to two-member crews.

His admirers call him a superb technician, a problem solver with a deep understanding of government. Critics contend, though, that he does not exhibit a consistent strategic vision or a subtle political sensibility. An Internal Referee

Mr. Steisel insists that he is most interested in broad questions of policy and planning, but that the insistent demands of daily events often overwhelm his time and attention. "I probably spend most of my time firefighting problems, far too much of my time," he said. "Things sort of pop up on my desk."

As First Deputy Mayor, Mr. Steisel is responsible for planning broad policy on matters vital to the Mayor, including the budget, labor relations and health care. He also gets involved in planning for agencies overseen by the five other deputy mayors when significant issues arise, and he serves as a kind of internal referee when agencies disagree on a matter.

In a recent span of a few days, he presided at meetings or had long phone conversations on these issues, among many others: efforts to obtain more Federal aid or to get changes in Federal rules that might save the city money; creation of a new agency to run homeless shelters; relations with Jewish social-service agencies in Brooklyn; compliance with Federal clean-air standards; personnel management in the agency that oversees abused or neglected children; efforts by the administration and labor leaders to increase productivity in six agencies, and obtain City Council approval of legislation that would overhaul taxi regulations.

Through it all, he combines the erudition of a Harvard professor of management with the charm of a New York cabby, a combination his admirers say is precisely what is needed to move an institution as large and unwieldy as municipal government.

"Norman doesn't talk, he growls," said Betsy Gotbaum, the Parks Commissioner, who is an old friend.

"It's great fun working with Norman," Ms. Gotbaum said. "He's very smart. He's got a very good sense of humor. He'll go after me and I'll go after him. I respect his knowledge. I don't always agree with him. We have fights, but that's all right." Feistiness and Feuding

But what friends and some colleagues view as feistiness and sarcastic wit, other senior city officials sometimes see as impatience and arrogance. At a private meeting recently with senior officials on efforts to get more Federal aid for the city, Mr. Steisel needled a deputy budget director about whether a promised memo would include any new ideas. The aide bristled at his sarcasm.

"He can be very curt," said a senior adviser. "Norman can put people down, be very dismissive."

In one notable example that recently came to public attention, Mr. Steisel and Barbara J. Sabol, who heads the city's huge social services agency, feuded bitterly over how to improve the management of the city's services for the homeless and other poor people. Mrs. Sabol, in one memo, told Mr. Steisel that she had "come to expect demeaning and inappropriate responses from your office."

Mr. Steisel acknowledged that he can sometimes be brusque and impatient. "It's probably true," he said. "I don't tolerate fools kindly." But he also said he tried hard to listen to people and to take their thoughts into account.

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When people re-argue an issue long past an appropriate point or fail to do what is in the Mayor's best interest, he said, "That's when I think I can be dismissive and perhaps even rude." Earning Mayor's Trust

Mr. Dinkins himself -- whose public manner is extremely courtly, though he too can be sharp with his staff in private -- dismissed the debate over Mr. Steisel's personal style. "Norman is terrific," he said. "He's a lot more patient than some people think."

"He's not supposed to be a diplomat," the Mayor said. "He's the guy who often has to deliver the bad news. He is perhaps not as diplomatic as some, but he's an awful lot more diplomatic than a lot of people I know."

Mr. Dinkins's trust in Mr. Steisel is now described by one senior adviser as "enormous." But when the Mayor took office in January 1990, Mr. Steisel was the only one of the four initial deputy mayors who had not also worked for Mr. Dinkins when he was Manhattan Borough President, and it took time for Mr. Dinkins and Mr. Steisel to forge their relationship.

Mr. Steisel's standing was also affected by the extremely strong bond between Mr. Dinkins and Mr. Lynch, who was deputy mayor for inter-governmental affairs and who had previously run Mr. Dinkins's mayoral campaign and served as his chief of staff when he was Borough President. Mr. Lynch's ties to the Mayor lent him the aura of a co-first Deputy Mayor, even if he lacked the title or the administrative authority of Mr. Steisel, who had had far more experience in city government.

But Mr. Lynch has been gone from City Hall since last summer and is putting together Mr. Dinkins's re-election operation. The Mayor and Mr. Steisel, along with other deputy mayors and many commissioners, said they talk on the phone constantly with Mr. Lynch, but his absence from City Hall has altered the internal dynamic of the Dinkins administration, many senior members said.

Mr. Steisel, who already oversaw a broad swath of the government, has taken on one of Mr. Lynch's major responsibilities, inter-governmental affairs, which includes relations with the City Council, Albany and Washington on everything from taxes to school aid to health care.

And with Mr. Lynch gone as a daily presence at City Hall -- as another center of power within the inner circle -- Mr. Steisel has consolidated his standing as the adviser on whom the Mayor leans most heavily and in whom he confides most often, many colleagues said. Effect Measured Differently

There is disagreement within the administration on whether his rise has affected city policies. Several officials said they felt the absence of Mr. Lynch's more gentle, consensual style, and his broad contacts in New York neighborhoods, when the Mayor was under attack last fall from Hasidic Jews in Crown Heights for his handling of racial violence in their area in 1991.

But other city officials said that decision-making seemed to be simplified in City Hall now that Mr. Steisel was firmly in charge. "It is such a sense of calm now -- everything is so much more relaxed," said a senior member of the administration. "There seems to be a lot less dissension, tension, being pulled in different directions."

Before, many officials said, any major matter would require the approval of both Mr. Steisel and Mr. Lynch. Though both tried to work cooperatively and often did, their different temperaments and backgrounds inevitably created tensions.

Mr. Steisel, a chemical engineer by training, has a short attention span. Mr. Lynch, a former community organizer and political operative, is extremely patient. "They could not be more different, except that they are both very strong-willed," said a senior mayoral adviser.

In any case, recent events have shown strong signs of Mr. Steisel's influence. He was quite proud, for example, of an agreement last month with sanitation workers to work longer garbage-collection routes and to be more productive in other ways.

City Hall has been rife with rumors that Mr. Steisel was looking for a new job, that he had grown tired of the 12-hour days, the 7-day weeks and the incessant crises that are the lot of a deputy mayor. He routinely declines to discuss the rumors, although he did say in a recent interview, "I've had from time to time offers of employment outside government."

Many of his colleagues said they assume Mr. Steisel will remain at least through the mayoral election. And despite his brusque manner, many senior mayoral advisers said they would miss him if he did move on. "I think he is genuinely a nice person," a colleague said. "Used to drive me crazy in the beginning, but I've really grown to like him."

A version of this article appears in print on March 9, 1993, on Page B00001 of the National edition with the headline: Steisel's Standing Rises In Dinkins's Inner Circle; First Deputy Mayor's Power Arena Widens. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe